A man’s body was discovered in flood-affected regional Victoria, raising the storm death toll across eastern Australia during the Christmas period to ten.
The man, camping with a woman who was found deceased on December 26 in Buchan, East Gippsland, has not yet been formally identified.
Emergency services had earlier recovered the woman’s body from the Buchan Caves campground after flash flooding severely impacted the area.
Federal Member for Gippsland, Darren Chester, visited the site on Wednesday and commended Parks Victoria for relocating campers to safer locations. He described the scene as resembling an “inland tsunami” and expressed his condolences to the victims’ families and those affected by the disaster.
Devastating storms cause multiple fatalities, including yacht capsizing and drowned explorers.Among the other victims were three friends who died when their yacht capsized in Moreton Bay near Brisbane on Boxing Day.
Queensland police reported that visibility was extremely poor, making survival challenging. The bodies of two men were retrieved from the yacht, and a third was found nearby. The victims, aged 48, 59, and 69, were mourned by their community, including the Iona College in Brisbane, where tributes were paid.
In Gympie, two women exploring the “Love Tunnel,” a stormwater drain network, perished when a storm hit. One woman survived with moderate injuries.
Earlier, a 14-year-old boy was reported missing while tubing on the Mary River in Tiaro and was later found deceased. Superintendent Paul Algie emphasized the dangers of exploring stormwater drains.
In Brisbane, a nine-year-old girl was swept away and later found after an extensive search.
Other fatalities include a man killed by a falling branch in Victoria and a woman killed by a tree on the Gold Coast. One person remains missing after being swept out to sea at Congo Beach in New South Wales.